


Between Wide Spaces

by flecksofpoppy



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen, Jearmin - Freeform, Jearmin Week, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-11 00:26:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3308822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flecksofpoppy/pseuds/flecksofpoppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin and Jean talk about stars.  Written originally for the Jearmin Week 2014, Day 7 prompt "lost together."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Wide Spaces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theisles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theisles/gifts).



> This was originally written for Jearmin Week 2014 for the prompt "lost together" as part of a collab with the magnanimous Dylo, but we decided to do something else. Have the spoils of my labor! :D
> 
> Set around chapter 34 in the manga, and at the end of the first season of the anime.

Armin and Jean sit on the edge of the breezeway. He’s so close that Armin can feel the body heat, and it’s somehow reassuring—Jean’s smell and his presence—not an ideal or a memory, but the corporeal present.

They look up into a vast sky, swallowing the small lights of the city. Since the smoke has stopped rising and the fires have settled, there’s time for thought, though Armin is unsure whether this is a blessing or a curse.

Jean has become a fellow stargazer, although Armin notices he never actually looks up for very long.

At first, they talk about Eren, about the future, Titan shifters, humanity. It’s as if Jean needs to confess his thoughts to someone, as if he thinks they might be wrong.

After the conversation has dwindled, though, and the only noise is the faint wind blowing through the stone corridors, Armin speaks. “You don’t have to sit with me,” he offers. “If you’re tired, you should go back.”

Jean looks over at Armin, his eyes wide and surprised. “That’s okay,” he says with a shrug. “I’m not making myself stay with you. Nothing better to do, anyway, eh?”

“I guess,” Armin replies with a shrug. He adjusts the shirt he’s wearing—smudged with some dirt, but they get to do laundry once a week now—and sneaks another look over at Jean.

He’s staring intensely at the cobbled floor, and Armin notices suddenly that his hand is gripped around something tightly.

He carries that relic around the strangest times. But Armin knows that if Eren really had perished, he’d have his own way of grieving that might seem strange to others. Memorializing and ceremony are so important to human beings, a fact which hasn’t escaped Armin for many years now.

“So,” Armin says conversationally, trying to smile, “that’s the big dipper...” He taps Jean’s shoulder, and then points into the sky, connecting the dots with his fingertip. “And—”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Jean says brusquely, shaking Armin’s hand off. “I know.”

Armin raises an eyebrow that Jean doesn’t see, and looks over at him in concern; he’s still staring down.

“I don’t like looking at the sky,” he blurts out suddenly in a small voice, scowling fiercely. He doesn’t elaborate, and just angles his face further down, as if embarrassed and trying not to show it.

Armin cocks his head to the side in surprise, but then bites his lip. “Why not?”

“It’s too big,” Jean replies quietly. “And I don’t like things that go beyond the Wall.” He sits up suddenly, straightening and pushing his shoulders back defensively, trying to grin. “Even though I’m in the Scouts now.” He makes a derisive noise, but it’s more of a weary sound than dismissive.

“I always wondered what the ocean was like,” Armin remarks suddenly, looking back up at the sky. 

“The _what?_ ” Jean asks, sounding like just started speaking a foreign language. “What is that? A type of Titan?”

Armin starts to laugh, and he smiles warmly; for once, Jean doesn’t scowl.

“No, it’s a giant, vast body of water. It’s like the sky in the daytime—blue—but instead of stars, it has salt.”

Jean’s reaction is exactly the same as Eren’s (Armin wisely keeps this observation to himself for purposes of self-preservation). “You’d be the richest person inside the Wall!” he exclaims, his eyes wide and pupils dilated in excitement.

Then, he deflates and clicks his tongue against his teeth dismissively. “How do you know it’s real, THOUGH?”

“I don’t,” Armin replies. “It was in a book in my grandfather’s study, before Wall Maria fell.”

He’s gotten used to saying it: _“Before Wall Maria fell.”_ Before his grandfather was sent to his death by humanity itself.

Jean just gives a dismissive snort, but Armin can tell he’s curious; Jean is quick to reject things he doesn’t understand.

He runs a hand through his hair absently, and finally sneaks a look back at Armin. “So...” he bites his lip, but keeps talking, “how big is it? As big as the sky?” He swallows hard when he asks, and Armin’s eyes widen; he recognizes terror when he sees it.

“Well, I guess,” he replies thoughtfully, looking back up at the sky. “You’d need a boat.”

“Oh, like a rowboat?”

“No,” Armin says, suddenly falling into a childhood dream, “a big boat. A ship.”

“To navigate the... ocean?” Jean asks, staring openly at Armin with interest.

“Yeah,” he says with a little smile. “To explore with. You can go anywhere, just see what’s out there... make more maps.”

Jean clears his throat noisily, but then says quietly as he hazards a nervous look up into the sky, “Tell me about it?”

**Author's Note:**

> I've started slowly writing more and more Jearmin--both shippy and gen--and feedback is greatly appreciated! <3


End file.
